


The market

by MagicRedhead



Series: Wives of the Shire [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling, F/F, Fem!Bagginshield, The Shire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 18:33:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5344304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicRedhead/pseuds/MagicRedhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thorin tries to adapt to a life in the Shire and to leave her old duties behind her.</p>
<p>No smut this time, but lots of cuddling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The market

The sun was blazing above Bilbo, its heat crushing her shoulder and filling her neck with sweat.  
“Sweet love, are you coming?” She had been waiting in front of Bag-End door for fifteen minutes now, the empty basket weighting in her hands. 

Thorin had always been reluctant to go to the market – even if she was delighted when they came home. Hobbits were a gentle kind, but prompt to gossiping and Thorin hated it when there were whispers following her. Growing up, she had a hard time with it already, being the Princess of Erebor. And even more after, when she had to rule and be the Queen of a fallen kingdom. 

Bilbo pushed back the wooden gate of Bag-End garden and started her way up the round green door. Thorin hasn’t replied and Bilbo guessed she was sulking somewhere. The Hobbit slightly opened the door and called: “Thorin? Are you well?” A growl answered.

Bilbo entered the smial and padded through its different rooms. She found Thorin sitting at the kitchen table, her fingers clasped around a tea cup, which seemed way too small in the dwarf’s hands. 

Thorin flickered her eyes to Bilbo and lowered them again. Bilbo sat in the chair that was closest to her wife, lifted her chin with her soft hobbit hands and gently caressed her beard. “What happened to my favourite dwarf? You threw the basket in my arms less than one hour before and now you are sitting in front of an empty tea cup. Not that it’s not a wonderful tea cup, I understand your fascination: my mother ordered this set for her 10th wedding anniversary, from a fine shop known for their fineries in the whole Shire.”

Thorin’s lips twitched a little and she looked at Bilbo through her eyelashes. Her blue eyes made Bilbo’s heart beat faster as the hobbit felt the tip of her ears turning red. She spoke softly: “Sweet love, you don’t have to do anything. Why don’t you stay here and start peeling apples so I can make an apple pie this afternoon? I will bring flour and sugar from the market.” 

The black braids surrounding Thorin’s face shivered a little when she slowly inclined her head. Bilbo knew what her wife meant by this and swiftly put a kiss on her eyebrows and left the house. 

*******

“Mistress Baggins! Where is your pretty wife today?” Bilbo has been walking by the stalls in the market place, a small furrow on her brow, when the shout made her jump a little. It came from a round Master Hobbit, selling various vegetables. He had cheeks red as tomatoes and an enormous straw hat, from where different flowers hung. 

Bilbo stopped and beamed at the other hobbit. “Well nice to see you Master Maggot! My pretty wife is kindly helping me out by peeling apples so I can make a pie. You know how tedious this work is, she is such a darling for helping me out. Aren’t we lucky to have such gems at home, Master?”

“We are, we are, Mistress,” laughed heartily the hobbit. “Though I’m not sure my dear wife would like to be called a gem, being around a dwarrowdam for so long has changed you, Bilbo.” 

“You know what a bit of adventure can do to you, my friend,” Bilbo said quietly. “I have to go before said dwarrowdam waits for too long. Farewell, Master Maggot.”

They both waved and Bilbo trotted away, a smile stretching her lips. She was glad she met a friend that lightened her heart, even though it meant stopping for a few minutes. She was always worried when she left Thorin alone at home. Especially when her queen was in one of her bad days. She had many of them after the quest was finished. Most of them happened in Erebor, the sadness and memories of the great Halls being too much for her to handle, when she had already so many responsibilities in mind. So Bilbo brought her beloved back to The Shire, where the weather was gentle, and every decent Hobbit minded (mostly) their own businesses. The crisis reduced, month after month, but once in a while, when someone said a nasty sentence, or after a brutal weather change like the first snow, Thorin’s mind would darken and she would go back to her bleak moods. 

Racing her steps, Bilbo bought what was needed for the pie and lunch, then added pastries and sweets that she knew Thorin liked. Her wife often said that hobbits tend to try solving every problem they faced with food, which made Bilbo reply that she indeed solved every dwarven issue she encountered, so her mighty dwarrow queen should trust her when it came to solving issues. 

****

“Thorin! Beloved I’m home, where are you?” Bilbo shouted while padding the smial. She had thrown away her basket in the kitchen table and was looking in every room for her wife. Half of the apples had been peeled, and the peeler was on the floor, like it had been thrown away, and a few drops of blood could be seen on the apple bowl. “You’d better not be sulking somewhere, you dratted dwarrow queen,” Bilbo tried to sound jovial, but her voice wavered with panic. 

She eventually found Thorin in bed, laying on her side and facing the wall. One of her hands gripped the pillow in front of her face. Bilbo sat quietly on the bed and sighed with relief. “There you are, beauty, I saw the peeler on the floor and got worried. What happened, you can carve the most delicate pattern in liquid silver, but here got defeated by an apple?” 

The dwarrowdam’s fingers clenched on pillow but her face remained blank and her eyes did not leave the wall. The hobbit perched herself higher on the bed to stare at Thorin’s figure, and gently put her two hands on her back. She remembered what Thorin told her before, that she felt like her entire body was made of clay, she could feel so weak and limp that she couldn’t even raise one hand to reach for Bilbo’s. Thorin expressed once how her entire insides were hurting as if twisting sharpened glass. How every touch, even the slightest, could feel like a hot charcoal being pressed to her skin. 

So Bilbo let her hands in one spot and did not move them, and she kept talking softly, lowering her whole body behind Thorin’s, to let her know she was surrounded and safe. “You don’t have to tell me what happened, dearest, I’ll take care of everything, we can stay in bed as long as you like. I always loved being in bed with you anyway, you have the softest hair and how can you be so warm, I don’t even need a blanket. I must confess I love your smell, especially the one you have when you just wake up. That’s why it’s always so hard for me to leave bed in the mornings, you know. Really I could stay here forever with you, sweet love, I’ll always be there with you.”

The dwarf let out a strangled sound and her whole body started shaking violently. Bilbo wrapped herself carefully around her wife’s body, moving inch by inch. She snugged her nose in Thorin’s neck and repeatedly whispered loving words. 

After a while, Thorin turned around to face her hobbit. Her face was white and her eyes were red, tears still spilling. She attempted a weak and soft smile. “I heard them talking,” she croaked. “That I am useless. I left my people to take care of themselves, to come lazing here while I cannot even grow beans.” 

Her hobbit wife hummed, then processed to kiss her cheeks, brow, and ears. “I know it’s not true,” continued Thorin. “My little sister is better at ruling than me. I am making lot of work for the Shire. The kids love their toys, and the adults adore their jewellery. But the guilt, it never cease to gnaw at me, you know.”

Bilbo gently kissed her lips. “You don’t have to explain yourself, beloved. I understand. Now may I have names, please?”

The dwarrowdam laughed and rolled on top of the hobbit, before kissing her full on the mouth. Her beard, wet with tears, felt damp against Bilbo’s chin. “I’ll manage, givashelê, I can take care of myself. You don’t have to always be the one defending me.” 

Tugging at Thorin’s braids, Bilbo brought her face down for another kiss. “You know I’ll always save you, my Queen.”


End file.
